bald
[bawld]
- having little or no hair on the scalp: a bald head; a bald person.
- destitute of some natural growth or covering: a bald mountain.
- lacking detail; bare; plain; unadorned: a bald prose style.
- open; undisguised: a bald lie.
- Zoology. having white on the head: the bald eagle.
- Automotive. (of a tire) having the tread completely worn away.
- to become bald.
- (often initial capital letter) Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. a treeless mountaintop or area near the top: often used as part of a proper name.
Origin of bald
1250–1300; Middle English ball(e)d, equivalent to ball white spot (compare Welsh bal, Greek phaliós having a white spot) + -ed -ed3
Synonyms
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com4. bare, barefaced, flagrant, patent, utter, out-and-out, downright, flat-out.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for balding
Contemporary Examples
Clean-shaven and balding, Saleem is in his forties and walks with a limp.
In a somber tone, the balding man with white hair describes having lost two sons in the war, both of them fighters with Fatah.
Sitting at the desk was a man in his mid- to late 40s, balding, conventionally dressed in slacks and an Oxford shirt, no tie.
The portly, balding Sabah, a father of two, glances nervously at the television.
In 2012, Donnelly, balding and bespectacled, arrived at the airport in Ontario.
Historical Examples
Harding shook his heavy, balding head, staring at the floor.
Shock AbsorberE.G. von Wald
Auguste gently pressed his hand against his father's balding brow.
ShamanRobert Shea
Instead, he was about forty, balding, with a little pot-belly and thinning hair.
MakersCory Doctorow
Major Chapelle was a thickset, balding man in his late forties.
Narakan Rifles, About Face!Jan Smith
Bennet Fayon, the biologist and physiologist, plump, pink-faced and balding.
NaudsonceH. Beam Piper
balding
- somewhat bald or becoming bald
bald
- having no hair or fur, esp (of a man) having no hair on all or most of the scalp
- lacking natural growth or covering
- plain or blunta bald statement
- bare or simple; unadorned
- Also: baldfaced (of certain birds and other animals) having white markings on the head and face
- (of a tyre) having a worn tread
Word Origin
C14 ballede (literally: having a white spot); related to Danish bǣldet, Greek phalaros having a white spot
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for balding
bald
adj.
c.1300, ballede, probably, with Middle English -ede adjectival suffix + Celtic bal "white patch, blaze" especially on the head of a horse or other animal (from PIE root *bhel- (1) "to shine, flash, gleam;" see bleach (v.)). Cf., from the same root, Sanskrit bhalam "brightness, forehead," Greek phalos "white," Latin fulcia "coot" (so called for the white patch on its head), Albanian bale "forehead." But connection with ball (n.1), on notion of "smooth, round" also has been suggested. Bald eagle first attested 1680s; so called for its white head.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
bald
(bôld)
- Lacking hair on the head.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.